Indoor fire-places



Feb. 7, 1961 H. FAUsER INDooRFIRE-PLACES 4 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March21, 1957 Feb. 7, 1961 H. FAusER INDOOR FIRE-PLACES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed March 21, 1957 Feb. 7, 1961 H. FAUsER INDooRFIRE-PLAGES 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 21, 1957 Feb. 7, 1961 H. FAusER INDOORFIRE-PLACES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 SWW@ HMM, fu-rn l.

Filed March 2l, 1957 United States Patent' 0" INDOOR FIRE-PLACES HansFanser, Flamatt, Switzerland, assignor to Superpart S.A., Romoiit,Switzerland Fried Mar. 21, 1951, ser. No. 647,562 ciaims'-priority,application switzerland Mar. 2s, 1956 2 claims. (ci. 126-121) Thepresent invention relates to indoor fire-places for heating rooms.

In indoor fire-places according to the prior art the combustion gasesowing out through the chimney take at the same time a very large amountof air out of the room in which the fire-place is located.

If the room is comparatively well sealed, more air will ow out of theroom than can flow back into the same so that within a relatively shorttime a slight under-pressure is created within the room and thecombustion gases will not flow out any more in adequate quantitiesthrough the chimney and part of these combustion gases and smoke willback up into the room.

If, on the other hand, the room in which the fire-place is located iswell ventilated so that fresh air can enter into the room in suicientamounts, unpleasant drafts are created and the heat efficiency of thetire-place is greatly reduced, since the combustion gases and the heatedair escaping through the chimney suck large amounts of cold air intothe. room continuously.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks ofindoor tire-places according to the prior art.

It is a further object of the present invention to increase the heatefciency of the fire-place.

Itis an additional object of the present invention to build a fire-placefrom pre-fabricated, simple and rugged parts so that the tire-place canbe easily assembled.

With l,these objects in` view, the tire-place of the present inventionis provided with a combustion chamber, air guide means adjacent thecombustion chamber and being formed With an air inlet opening and an airoutlet opening, the air outlet opening communicating with a room inwhich the indoor fire-place is located, and a heat transmitting linerforming part of the air guide means and separating the air guidemeansfrom the combustion chamber, permitting heating of air within theair guide meansby heat created in the combustion chamber.

The fire-place of the present invention is also provided with air guidemeans for supplying fresh air to the combustion chamber and these airguide means are formed with an air inlet opening which may communicatewith a source of air located outside the room in which the fireplace ismounted and with an air outlet opening which communicates with thecombustion chamber ofthe fireplace so that fresh air from outside theroom may be furnished to the combustion chamber for maintainingcombustion of fuel therein. The air guide means adjacent the combustionchamber and separatedl therefrom by the above-mentioned 'heattransmitting liner extends preferably in vertical direction and thissecond air guide means is separated from the rst air guide meanssupplying air to the combustion chamber by a partition, while the upperend of the second air guide means is in communication with the first airguide means. The second air guide means is formed at the bottom thereofwith an opening communicating with the room in which the tire-place islocated.

2970,59@ Patented Feb. 7, 1961 The fire-place of the present inventionis preferably constructed of pre-fabricated, self-supporting elementswhich are also adapted to carry the hood structure of the tire-place.

Means are located in the air guide means to regulate the flow of airtherethrough.

The walls of the second air guide means are preferably provided at thehighest point thereof with wall portions of reduced thickness, which maybe removed to form in said second air guide means air outlet openings atthe highest point thereof and these wall portions are removed wheneverit is undesired or not possible to connect the air inlet opening of thelirst air guide means to a source of air outside the room in which thefire-place is located.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. to itsconstruction and its method of operation, together with additionalobjects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from thefollowing description of spe cie embodiments when read in connectionwith the accompaiiying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the lire-place of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the fire-place of the present invention,the section being taken along the line llil of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the lire-place shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the fireplace, the section being takenalong the line IV--lV of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view, the section being taken along the lineV-V of Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a perspective rear view of the fire-place; Fig. 7 is a partialexploded and partial sectional perspective view ofthe fire-piace asshown in Fig. l;

Fig. 8 is a schematic partial sectional view of another modication of atire-place of the present invention; and

Fig. 9 is a sectional plan view of the modification shown in Fig. 8, thesection being taken along the line lX-iX ot Fig. 8.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. l7 of thesame, it will be seen that the tire-place of the present inventioncomprises a bed plate l, a hearth plate 2 located over the bed plate 1and extending in abutting relationship over the top surface thereof, apair of side plates or side members 3 and 4 projecting in verticaldirection respectively from opposite sides of the hearth plate 2, acover plate 5 extending substantially parallel to the bed plate 1between the upper free ends of the side plates 3 and 4, and a hoodstructure composed of the superimposed elements 6 and 7 mounted on thecover plate 5. The bed plate 1, the hearth plate 2, the side plates 3and 4 and the cover plate 5 are formed from prefabricated,self-supporting structural elements of tireproof material which carryVthe hood elements 6 and 7 without additional bracing. The cover plate 5is formed with an opening S' thereto which communicatesV with theinterior of the hood structure. A heat transmitting liner 12 preferablyformed from sheet metal covers part of the inner side faces of the sideplates 3 and 4 and extends transversely thereto and spaced from thefront and the rear face of the side plates 3 and 4 between the same andbetween the inner faces of the hearth'plate 2 and the cover plate 5. Theupper edge of the liner 12 ends ilush with the rear and side faces ofthe opening 5 formed in the cover plate 5.v The liner 12 thereforedivides the space between the hearth plate 2 and the cover plate 5 intoa combustion chamber C open to the front of theY tire-place and a rearchamber. A partition formed from tire-proof elements 10 and 11 islocated yin this rear charnber. This partition extends transverselybetween the side The invention itself, however, both as plates 3 and 4in vertical direction between the hearth plate 2 and the cover plate 5and divides the rear chamber into a first channel or first air guidemeans 21 and a second channel or second air guide means 22 locatedbetween the partition 10, 11 and the liner 12. The cover plate is alsoformed with a U-shaped groove or passage 5 extending upwardly from thebottom face thereof, as best seen in Figs. 2 and 4, which grooveestablishes communication between the upper ends of the first air guidemeans 21 and the second air guide means 22.

The bed plate 1 is formed with rearwardiy exten-:ling passage ways 1which are open to the rear of the bed plate so as to communicate withthe first air guide means 21 and which are closed at the front of thebed plate. The form of these passages 1' is best shown in Fig. 7. Thehearth plate 2 is formed with passages 2 which communicate at one endwith front portions of the passages 1' formed in the bed plate 1 and atthe other end with the combustion chamber C so that a continuous passageis formed leading from the bottom end of the first air guide means 21 tothe bottom face of the combustion chamber C. An opening in form of aninverted truncated pyramid 2" is provided in the hearth plate 2 which isaligned with an opening 1" provided in the bed plate 1. Openings 2 and 1formrthe ash pit of the fire-place and the opening 1 is closed by aremovable cover plate 13. Andirons 8 and 9 are placed spaced from eachother on the top face of the hearth plate 2. The andirons 8 and 9 arepreferably plate-shaped and are located over the passages 2' in the bedplate 2 to prevent ashes from falling in these air passages.` Grooves 23are formed at the upper edge portions of the side walls of the ash pitso that air may passfrom the passages 2' beneath the andirons `8 and 9into the combustion chamber C. Passages 1', 2' and grooves 23 fornrairoutlet openings connecting tliers't air guide means 2,1 with thecombustion chamber C.

The first air guide means 21 is completely open towards the rear and thebottom thereof as best shown in Figs. 4 and 6. The fire-place of thepresent invention is preferably placed with its rear face against anoutside wall 24, schematically indicated in Fig. 4, which outside wallis provided with an opening 25 therethrough so that the first air guidemeans 21 are put into communication with a source of fresh air outsidethe room in which the fire-place is located. Since the airchannel 21 iscompletely 'open to the rear and to the bottom thereof, the location ofthe opening 25 is immaterial and this air inlet opening may be locatedanywhere rearwardly of the channel 25 or even entend downwardly from thebottom thereof as indicated by the arrows shown in Fig. 6.

The second air guide means 22 communicates at the top thereofthrough'the passage 5 with the first air guide ineans 21 and at`thebottom the air guide means 22 communicates with the atmospheresurrounding the fire-place through passages or cutouts S'and 4respectively formed in the side plates 3 and 4 and passages or openings17 and 18 formed in the hearth plate 2. as best shown in Figs. 2 and 5.The second air guide means 22 communicate, therefore. through openings17, 1S with the room in which the fire-place is located. To regulate theow of air through the first passage means 21 and the second passagemeans 22. valve plates 14 and 15 are provided as best shown in Fig. 4.An additional valve plate 16 is provided at the opening 5 in the coverplate S to regulate the draft of the chimney and this valve plate mav beused for cornpletely 'closing the opening 5' when the fire-place is notin use.

The outer side walls ofthe top plate 5 defining the passageor groove 5"therein are provided respectively with wall portions 20 of reduced wallthickness, which wall portions may be easily knocked out of the coverplate 5 so as to provide additional openings communicating with'theupper ends of the second passage means 22.

A slight modification ofthe fire-platte aS described 4 above is shown inthe Figs. 8 and A9. The main df ference between the construction asillustrated in Figs; 1-7 and the modified construction as shown in Figs.8 and 9 resides in the specific construction of the hood located overthe combustion chamber C. The hood con structions as shown in Figs. 8and 9 is double-walled and comprises the outer walls 50, 60 and 70 andthe inner walls 61, 62, 63, 64, 66 and 67 as clearly shown in Figs. 8and 9. An opening 71 is provided at the upper end of the rear face ofthis hood construction so that the first air guide means 21 maycommunicate with the upper part of the space between the inner and outerwalls of the hood construction. A plate 65 extends transversely into thespace formed between the top and the bottom of the hood construction andthe space between the inner and outer Walls of the hood constructioncommunicate with the top end of the second air guide means 22 as shownin Fig. 8. Part of the air entering the fireplace through the first airguide means 21 may therefore flow in a zigzag path as indicated indash-dot lines in Fig. 8 through the space between the inner and outerwails of the hood construction into the second air guide means 22 andfrom there through the openings 17 and 18 formed in the hearth plate 2into the room.

The construction as illustrated in Figs. 1-7 will operate as follows:When fuel, for instance wooden logs, are burned in the combustionchamber C, fresh air from outside the room is sucked through the opening25 provided in the outer wall 24, through the first air guide means 21,the passages 1', 2 and grooves 23 into the combustion chamber C asindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 7 and the combustion gases will leavethecombustionfcham'aer C through the opening 5' provided in the coverplate 5 and the interior of the hood 6, 7 into the chimney. This createsa slight draft in theA roomsucking also a certain amount of air fromtheroorn outiinto the chimney and creating a slight-under-pressure intheroom. Due to this under-pressure in the room, part of the fresh airentering into the first guide means 21 vwill be sucked through thepassage 5" into the second air` guide means 22 separated from thecombustion chamber C by the heat transmitting liner 12. This air passingthrough the second air guide means 22 will be heated through contactwith the heated liner 12 and the thus heated air will be sucked due tothe under-pressure in the rooml and 18 formed in the hearth plate 2 intothe room as,

indicated in dash-dot lines in Fig. 7. Heated fresh air is thereforetransmitted directly into the room and this air will not escape into thechimney. The heat efficiency of the fire-place is thereby greatlyincreased. The amount of air passing through the first air guidemeansf21 and through the second air guide means 22 may be regulated byadjusting the position of the valve plates 14 and 15. The draft of thefire-place may be regulated by adjusting the valve plate 16.

There vmay be circumstances Where, for structural reasons, it is notpractical to provide a fresh lair intake opening 25 in an outside wallof the building to connect the first air guide means 21 with asourceof'fresh air outside the room in which vthe fire-place is located,or where the room is already so Well ventilated that it is unnecessaryto'have a special fresh air intake opening. In such a case the weakenedwall portions 20 provided in the side walls of the cover plate 5adjacent the 'groove 5 formed therein are knocked out and in this wayopenings are formed at the location .20 providing direct oommunicationat the upper ends of the second air guide means 22-with the atmospheresurrounding the firefplace. The openings thus formed at the location 20will allow the air in the second air guide means 22 to owout of the topwhile air will enter the second air guide means through the connectingpassages 17, 3 and 1S, .4K- at acreage the bottom thereof and be heatedin the second air passage means through contact with the heattransmitting liner 12. Of course, air intake means have also to beprovided in this case which establish communication between the firstair guide means 2l and the atmosphere surrounding the fire-place so thatair may be sucked into the combustion chamber C from the room in whichthe hre-place is located. This air intake opening for the first airguide means may be provided in any desired manner, foi instance, byproviding appropriate cutouts into the rear wall against which thetire-place is positioned.

The heat efficiency of the fire-place of the present invention isfurther increased by the hood construction as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 inwhich the fresh air sucked into the room is not only heated throughcontact with the heat transmitting liner 12 but also through contactWith the inner walls of the hood construction which in turn are heatedby the combustion gases passing through the hood into the chimney.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also nd a useful application in other types ofindoor fire-places differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in anindoor fire-place, it is no-t intended to be limited to the detailsshown, since various modifications and structural changes may be madewithout departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialchat'- acteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An indoor tire-place comprising, in combination, a bed plate; ahearth plate located over said bed plate and extending in abuttingrelationship over the top surface thereof; a pair of side platesprojecting in vertical direction respectively from opposite sides ofsaid hearth plate; a cover plate extending substantially parallel tosaid bed plate between the upper free ends of said side plates; a hoodstructure mounted on said cover plate, said cover plate being formedwith an opening communieating with the interior of said hood structure,said plates being formed from prefabricated self-supporting structuralelements carrying said hood structure without additional bracing; a heattransmitting liner covering at least part of the inner side faces ofsaid side plates and extending transversely thereto spaced from thefront and the rear face of said side plates between said side plates andthe upper edge portions of said liner being hush with the walls definingsaid opening in said cover plate thus dividing the space between saidhearth plate and said cover plate into a combustion chamber open to thefront of the fire-place and a rear chamber; and a partition located insaid rear chamber extending transversely between said side plates and invertical direction between said hearth plate and said cover plate anddividing said rear chamber into rst air guide means and second air guidemeans located between said partition and said liner, said cover platebeing formed with a passage establishing communication between saidfirst and .said second air guide means, said bed plate being formed withrearwardly extending passages communicating with said first air guidemeans, said hearth plate being formed with passages communicating withfront portions of said passage formed in said bed plate and saidcombustion chamber, and said second air guide means being formed withopenings located at the bottom thereof communicating with the room inwhich the fire-place is located.

2. An indoor hre-place comprising, in combination, a bed plate; a hearthplate located over said bed plate and extending in abutting relationshipover the top surface thereof; a pair of side plates projecting invertical direction respectively from opposite sides of said hearthplate; a cover plate extending substantially parallel to said bed platebetween the upper free ends of said side plate-s; a hood structuremounted on said cover plate, said cover plate being formed with anopening communicating with the interior of said hood structure, saidplates being formed from prefabricated self-supporting structuralelements carrying said hood structure without additional bracing; a heattransmitting liner covering at least part of the inner faces of saidside plates and extending transversely thereto spaced from the front andthe rear face of said side plates between said side plates and the upperedge portions of said liner being iiush with thew walls defining saidopening in said cover plate thus dividing the space between said hearthplate and said cover plate into a combustion chamber open to the frontof the hre-place and a rear chamber; a partition located in said rearchamber extending transversely between said side plates and in verticaldirection between said hearth plate and said cover plate and dividingsaid rear chamber into first air guide means and second-air guide meanslocated between said partition and said liner, said cover plate beingformed with a passage establishing communication between said first andsaid second air guide means, said bed plate being formed with rearwardlyextending passages communicating with said first air guide means, saidhearth plate being formed with passages communieating with frontportions of said passage formed in said bed plate and said combustionchamber, and said second air guide means being formed with openingslocated at the bottom thereof communicating with the room in which thetire-place is located; and means located in said lirst and second airguide means for regulating the ow of air passing therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,589,702 Isenberg June 22, 1926 1,697,635 Cornelius Jan. l, 19291,722,560 Cornelius July 30, 1929 2,231,258 Elmore Feb. 1l, 1941 FOREIGNPATENTS 9,882 Great Britain Sept. 22, 1843 OTHER REFERENCES HeatformPamphlet (page 3 only), published by Superior Fireplace Co.

